Nine Inch Nails’ live shows are typically big and dramatic events, with lights, elaborate video screens, and transforming stages, but frontman Trent Reznor says that’s not the sort of thing he wants to do anymore. Speaking with BBC Radio (via Billboard), Reznor explained that he remembers watching some Coachella performances with the rest of the band once “from the comfort of our couch,” and every performer they saw had a video playing behind them and a synced-up light show. Specifically, he said he saw Kanye West and The Weeknd “blatantly rip off” the Nine Inch Nails live show “production-wise,” and he’s confident that they even did it on purpose.
As a response to the popularity of complex live shows, Reznor has decided to return to simpler times. He told the BBC that he thought back to old shows by the Cure or Jesus And Mary Chain, when all the audience could see was “smoke, maybe a color, a little bit of someone’s hair, and real loud guitars,” and so he’s doing that sort of thing now instead.